Jo Morgan, wife of businessman Gareth Morgan, has described the moment the avalanche that struck her on Mt Hicks, killing her two climbing guides, saying it was like a "huge wave," sweeping towards her.
Speaking to Heather du Plessis-Alan on Newstalk ZB today, she said the earth under her feet began moving and only through the light of her head torch could she make out the icy wave in front of her.
The trio had set out at 2am on Wednesday morning, heading for the summit of Aoraki/Mt Cook when the avalanche hit. She was roped to German mountaineers, Wolfgang Maier and Martin Hess when they had urged her to hurry up.
She said she felt the earth under her feet began moving and that it was "just like being in the surf."
"This big fluffy wave of ice coming towards me and [it had] no sound – it was all quiet."
She and her team were then thrown some 200m down the mountain.
Swimming with one hand and with her ice pick in the other, she managed to create an air pocket around her.
Mrs Morgan was amazed to find that when she finally came to a stop that she could breathe but said none of the climbers had any control over what was happening.
Relieved, she managed to find her emergency beacon in her pocket which she set off before spending the next hour trying to dig herself out of the snow.
Although her mouth had been near the snow’s surface, freeing her legs in the tense loose powder proved difficult.
She was unable to locate Mr Maier or Mr Hess, digging around with her ice axe but at the same time not wanting to trigger another avalanche or fall into a crevasse.
Soon after this, her mobile phone rang – it was the rescue authority asking what had happened.
"I said the boys must be gone – I couldn't see any way [they had escaped] unless they had a mouth out in which case they would be shouting," she told them.
Devastatingly, it would soon emerge that both her climbing partners had died in the tragedy.
Mrs Morgan says she was very close to the pair and had been climbing, particularly with Mr Mair, for many years.
In 2017, they had saved her life when they pulled her from a crevasse.
"They were amazing people and much loved by their families and the climbing community," she said.
Only a week before, Mr Hess had held a 50th birthday celebration for which his parents had flown in from Germany, poignantly, giving them time to spend with their son before the tragedy.
Mrs Morgan said she was finding it difficult to deal with the disaster.
"I haven't had so many hugs in years – it's been amazing, the support," she said.
"With that goes the feeling that knowing there are these families out there that are absolutely grieving and shocked."
The avalanche struck before the three had reached the summit of Mt Hicks and when asked by du Plessis-Allan if she would ever try again, Morgan said she didn't "really have any inclination".
"It's shrugged me off, Hicks doesn't want me," she said
"I can't think of going up mountains with anyone but Wolfgang because he was always my real anchor," she said.
"If I did do it – it would have to be in memory of those boys.
"Maybe the other way to go is to leave it there as a closed book."
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